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Keepers Tour: Eat Properly

During last year’s Keepers Tour, the motor was fine for about two or three days until it suddenly sputtered and shut down completely on Wednesday. My basic problem, it appears, lies with my ongoing struggle with body dysmorphia; based on the quantity of calories rolling into the station on the Malteni train, I was loathe to lay into the vast spread of home-cooked meals our beloved Keepers Tour cook, GeneviÃ¨ve, was churning out on a daily basis.

There is something about the stones and their way of knocking your bike against you over and over and over again that demands a bit more sustenance to mend the muscles than does your average Sunday roll up and down the local boulevard. This is not the time to whinge about waist lines – this is time to focus on building reserves and recuperation.

There is strength in numbers, of course, so this time around GeneviÃ¨ve was smart enough not to take it on herself and somehow enlisted her best friend Odile as second-in-command. And in command they are. I used a bucket from the kitchen to clean my bike, upon which discovery they made some angry sounds and now I’m scared to make eye contact with them.

William’s cunning doesn’t end there though; he managed to cajole his lovely sister, Gemma, to agree to participate as well, though I assume the bartering of his children was involved in that negotiation as well.

Between these three ladies looking after us, we’re eating like kings and this time I’m all-in on the food. Tonight’s meal of lamb, pommes boulangÃ¨re, and white beans in cream sauce didn’t stand a chance. I piled a mountain of it on my plate that made Odile do a double-take; when GeneviÃ¨ve collected the plate after I crushed it, she made a gesture that said she was putting it back on the shelf straight away; no washing needed.

Moderation is not my strength. Maybe there’s a middle ground, but I’m never sure how to find those.

About frank

A lifelong Velominatus, the history and culture within cycling fascinates Frank and, if given even the vaguest of excuses, will discuss it to exhuastion. A devoted cycling aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it.

Good old home cooking, Looks & sounds like top quality pave fuel to me. Living like kings and riding on the roads of legend . On that note food is one of the most overlooked items out in my group rides that i can think of. One might even confuse it with lack of fittness in contrast to lack of fuel your body needs to keep going. We’ve all been there at some point, when you’ve burned one to many matches and no way to light the candle. ( shit sandwich i tell ya) Now It’s part of my mental check off before i roll. Really think about it….. can you enjoy your recovery beverage when you’ve just spent triple over time in the pain cave. The pain cave it self is a bastard, let alone any over time one has incurred for lack of preparation. Justsaynen

I remember having no problem at all with going back for thirds of Genevieve’s cooking – especially the puddings. Nevertheless I still went hunger flat on the last sector before Roubaix,as you guy’s where mixing it up with the traffic and needed William to coax me home. Clean your bike with a bucket from the kitchen Frank! You should be peeling spuds for the rest of the tour..

{sigh}. Most of the time, I’m pretty happy with my job of teaching. Great breaks, usually have the ability to sneak in a ride after school gets out, then work in the evening to prepare for the next day and grade — but still get in some daylight. It forces me into a permanent Velominatus Budgetatus status, but I’m resigned to that, I guess…

…but I will never be able to travel to the Spring Classics while I’m a teacher. You just can’t take off mid-term like that. And I’m okay with that, even, for the most part. But then you’ve got to go and post shit like this and make me regret my career.

Despite GeneviÃ¨ve & Odile’s best efforts to over feed us with endless five course meals, and a constant supply of Maltini beer (watch out for the spurting), the cycling on the Keepers Tour balanced everything out ands I’ve returned home weighing what I did when I left.